This invention relates to surgical devices and, in particular, to clamping and fixation assemblies for holding together split sections of bones.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,012, titled "Surgical Clamping Assemblies and Methods of Use", issued to the present Applicant and the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference, applicant identified a problem existing in the art pertaining to the use of wires for sternal fixation. That is, in the prior art a wire is used to directly clamp two bone halves together. The wire may cut right through the bone causing damage to the bone rather than the expected healing. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,012, Applicant taught the use of clamping assemblies to be mounted on separate sections of bones and the use of wire to interconnect the clamping assemblies without the wire touching the bone area underlying the clamping assembly. Thus the wire does not cause the cutting of the bony sections being clamped. In refining his prior work, Applicant recognized the need for a clamping assembly which would have a relatively low profile (i.e., be relatively thin) and where the clamping assembly avoids the use of hooks or parts extending outwards from the bone sections, in order to reduce any outward pressure (i.e., push out) against the flesh and skin layer(s) overlying the bone sections. By way of example, it is desirable that a clamping assembly for clamping sternal halves be easy to mount securely on the bone sections and have a low profile while still providing rigid and dynamic fixation.